Alex Webb, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, 1993, from MFA, Boston, exhibition, "Violet Isle" (with Rebecca Norris Webb) and Aperture's "The Suffering of Light" exhibition

––Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” @ Aperture, New York, through January 19, 2012

––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, “Violet Isle: A Photographic Portrait of Cuba,” @ MFA, Boston, through Jan. 16, 2012

––Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” @  Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, through Jan. 14, 2012

––Rebecca Norris Webb and other artists, “Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds,” NDMOA, Grand Forks, ND, through Jan. 15, 2012

NEW REVIEWS/ARTICLES

–“On Marrying a Photographer,” on Alec Soth’s blog, Little Brown Mushroom, with comments by several photographers and others, including Martin Parr, Alec Soth, Rachel Cartee Soth, Greta Pratt, Zoe Strauss, Alex Webb, and Rebecca Norris Webb.

–”The Suffering of Light” exhibition @ Aperture reviewed in the Village Voice.

–”The Suffering of Light” exhibition reviewed on DLK blog.

––”As Far As an Outsider Can Go,” in the New York Photo Review.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBECCA

“Teaching taught me how little I knew and it forced me to think.  I had to teach to get an education.” –––Harry Callahan, from “Harry Callahan @ 100″ at the National Gallery of Art

– PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS @ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE, Friday evening, March 9, 2012, thru Saturday, March 11, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop with the Webbs and Radius Books creative director and noted book designer, David Chickey, with an emphasis on the process of intuitive editing and bookmaking, following the process of how long-term projects can develop into books and exhibitions . APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP, VISIT THE MAGNUM WEBSITE.  Or, for those on Facebook, please visit the PHOTOGRAPHIC MASTERCLASS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAGPORE page. The National Museum of Singapore is a venue partner of the Photography Masterclass.

–WEEKEND WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY, Friday evening, March 23, thru Sat., March 25, 2012. Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?   An intensive weekend workshop with Alex and Rebecca. APPLICATIONS WILL OPEN BEGINNING FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012.  Check the Aperture website then for workshop details, such as fee, how to make payment, etc, starting on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2012.  Before the workshop site is live to take applications and workshop fees online, you can reserve a space by emailing Anne Lewis of Aperture –– alewis@aperture.org ––STARTING ON MONDAY, JANUARY 23.  There is a discount for students and Aperture patrons.

––WEEKEND WORKSHOP IN MILANO @ FORMA; Friday evening, May 4, thru Sunday, May 6th, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop @ Forma with the Webbs during Alex’s upcoming spring exhibition there, “The Suffering of Light.” Included in the workshop will be a gallery talk by Alex as well as a copy of Alex’s recent survey book of 30 years of his color photographs, “La Sofferenza della Luce,” (Contrasto).  The workshop will be taught in English with Italian translation.  For more information here’s the link.

–FINDING YOUR VISION WORKSHOP @ CAPTION GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY.  Sunday May 20 thru Friday May 25, 2012.* A week-long photographing and editing workshop where each photographers begins to explore his or her own way of photographing and how to edit intuitively.  Will include exercises, light room tutorials, and a presentation by a noted book editor. APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN.  Early acceptance notification will start on February 9, 2012.  Check the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website for fees, application process and further details.

*If there is enough interest, we will explore offering a second session of the Finding Your Vision Workshop @ Caption Gallery the week before —  Sunday May 13 thru Friday May 18, 2012.

Rebecca Norris Webb, Havana, 2008, from "Violet Isle" (with Alex Webb) at the MFA, Boston, and "Winged Shadows," at NDMOA, Grand Forks, N.D.

Alex Webb, Tenosique, Mexico, 2007, from "The Suffering of Light"

from THE NEW YORKER, January 9, 2012

ALEX WEBB

A survey of Webb’s color photographs from the past thirty years shows him to be remarkably consistent but never formulaic. His subjects—found throughout the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, and elsewhere—are landscapes with people scattered across the frame in arrangements so arresting and invigorating it’s hard to believe that Webb didn’t stage them. As with Cartier-Bresson, Webb’s decisive moment is often a surprising one, typically a frieze of figures in a setting divided by areas of color, pattern, shadow, and brilliant sunlight. A few pictures are brief narratives (in one, an arc of mourners shelter a dead man in Mexico), but many more are free-form poems. Through Jan. 19. (Aperture, 547 W. 27th St. 212-505-5555.)

LINK

from THE AMSTERDAM NEWS:

Webb believes in the inherent visual intelligence of the viewer. His images are stunningly complicated, using not just color but depth to give us more than a flat photograph ; they are three-dimensional landscapes. His frames are rarely static, often zig-zagging from left to right and back again, from person to object to animal.–Damaso Reyes

LINK TO THE FULL REVIEW.

from photographer TIM CONNOR’S blog:

These may be the most compositionally complex photographs around that don’t depend on photoshop for their effects. In a way, looking at Webb’s pictures is like watching an old-fashioned magic show. What transforms sleight-of-hand into magic is the ineluctable reality of the hands, sleeves and coins that we try to follow. Here it’s the un-fakeable reality of children, women and men – shown in ensemble – as they spin from exuberance to despair in the kaleidoscopes of poverty and upheaval. If we saw these people conventionally isolated, picked out and framed to receive our pity or our anger, the impact would not be the same.

Alex Webb, Bombardopolis, Haiti, 1986, from "The Suffering of Light"

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBECCA

–THE STREETS OF HAVANA, Sunday, Jan. 22 thru Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012.  There are only a few places left in this upcoming workshop sponsored by Norway’s Nordic Light.  For more information follow this link.

– PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS @ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE, Friday evening, March 9, 2012, thru Saturday, March 11, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop with the Webbs and Radius Books creative director and noted book designer, David Chickey, with an emphasis on the process of intuitive editing and bookmaking, following the process of how long-term projects can develop into books and exhibitions . APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP, VISIT THE MAGNUM WEBSITE.  The National Museum of Singapore is a venue partner of the Photography Masterclass.

–WEEKEND WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY, Friday evening, March 23, thru Sat., March 25, 2012. Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?   An intensive weekend workshop with Alex and Rebecca. APPLICATIONS WILL OPEN BEGINNING FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012.  Check the Aperture website then for details.

–FINDING YOUR VISION WORKSHOP @ CAPTION GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY.  Sunday May 20 thru Friday May 25, 2012.* A week-long photographing and editing workshop where each photographers begins to explore his or her own way of photographing and how to edit intuitively.  Will include exercises, light room tutorials, and a presentation by a noted book editor. APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN.  Early acceptance notification will start on February 9, 2012.  Check the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website for fees, application process and further details.

*If there is enough interest, we will explore offering a second session of the Finding Your Vision Workshop @ Caption Gallery the week before —  Sunday May 13 thru Friday May 18, 2012.

The National Museum of Singapore is a venue partner of the Photography Masterclass in Singapore in March 2012

In addition, we’d like to give a special thanks to everyone who’s supported Rebecca’s “My Dakota” book and upcoming exhibition in 2012.  We couldn’t have done it without your support.  (There is still one limited ed. of “My Dakota” available, as well as a few of the handmade artist books; please contact Alex for more information: rnorriswebb@yahoo.com).  Near the end of the column, you’ll also find two worthy projects you may want to consider supporting.  And, as some of you have requested, this column ends with a short list of some of our upcoming 2012 workshops.

So, to all of you, we’d like to wish you a very productive NEW YEAR, and — as always — please stay in touch.—Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Please leave your congratulations to fellow photographers in the comment section at the end of this blog posting or contact him or her directly through his/her website.

NEW BOOKS

Magdalena Sole, cover of her new book, "New Delta Rising"

Some of you may remember New York City-based photographer Magdalena Sole (originally from Spain) from the Venice and New York workshops.  Above, is the cover of her first photography book, NEW DELTA RISING, which will be available from Amazon in January.  You’ll also find, below, the cover of L.A.-based photographer Alia Malley’s new book, A CAVALIER IN SIGHT OF A VILLAGE (Havana and Brooklyn workshops), which was funded thanks to a very successful Kickstarter campaign, and Norwegian photographer Marie Sjovold’s DUST CATCHES LIGHT (Norway workshop), a book which was launched this fall in Paris.

We’ve also included covers of Austin, Texas photographer Bill McCullough’s limited edition book, TECHNOCOLOR LIFE: AMERICAN WEDDING (Woodstock workshop), Canadian photographer Richard Marazzi’s book on Cuba,  EPOCA (Toronto workshop), British photographer Justin Partyka’s FIELD WORK (Cadiz workshop), Canadian photographer Ewa Zebrowski’s artist’s book, SEA OF LANTERNS (Venice and Aperture workshops) with text by Anne Michaels, a book which will be launched at the Art Gallery of Ontario in May 2012, and award-winning Swedish photographer Per-Anders Pettersson’s catalog of photographs from South Africa, EKHAYA (Project Workshop @ Caption Gallery).

You’ll find more details about the above publications — including where to purchase them — on the photographers’s websites,  as well as on some of the additional links listed below (such as the Amazon link for Magdalena). — AW and RNW

Marie Sjovold, cover of her book, "Dust Catches Light"

–In U.S., the book will soon be offered by Photo Eye – http://www.photoeye.com,  Currently, here’s where it can be ordered in Norway and Sweden:

http://www.bokus.com/cgi-bin/product_search.cgi?search_word=Dust+catches+light&language=&ac_used=yes

http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=9197887641

http://www.tronsmo.no/index.php?action=sok&enkelt_filter=tittel&enkelt_query=dust+catches+light&x=50&y=5

Alia Malley, cover of her book, "A Cavalier in Sight of a Village"

Book is available at:  http://www.aliamalley.com/cav_book.html

Alia’s website: www.aliamalley.com

Richard Marazzi, "Época"

Richard’s website:  http://www.richardmarazziphoto.com/

Bill McCullough, from the book "Technicolor Life: American Wedding"

Bill’s website: http://www.billmcculloughphotography.com/

Justin Partyka, "Field Work"

 Justin’s website: http://www.justinpartyka.com/

Ewa Zebrowski, from the artist book, Sea of Lanterns, text by Anne Michaels

Order “Sea of Lanterns” at this link on Photo Eye.

Ewa’s website: http://www.ewazebrowski.com/

Per-Anders Pettersson, cover of catalog, "Ekhaya"

Per’s website: http://www.peranderspettersson.com

Susan Berger, Jersey City, NJ 2010

NEW EXHIBITIONS/GALLERIES

CONGRATULATIONS to many of you with recent and upcoming exhibitions, including U.S. photographer, Susan Berger‘s, MARTIN LUTHER KING BOULEVARD, which will be on view at the Griffin Museum of Photography near Boston from January 5, 2012 to March 1, 2012. (Susan was recently in our Book Weekend Workshop @ Radius this past fall.) Also, New England photographer Chris Chadbourne‘s STATE FAIR photographs (Photo Project  @ Caption Gallery) will open next June at the Griffin Museum, and then travel to venues in Las Vegas, Nevada, and North Carolina (the work was also shown at the New England Photo Biennial –see photo below).  San Francisco-based Jane Paradise , recently who attended our UNBOUND workshop at LOOK3, has work in a group exhibiton at the Bedford Gallery near San Francisco, including this photograph below from her BLUE COMMA series from Cape Cod, which was selected for the Bedford Gallery show by SFMOMA’s Sandra Phillips and Oakland Museum’s Drew Johnson (here’s a link to a video interview of the two curators about the exhibition).  Jane will also have work in Buenos Aires and near Boston at the Griffin Museum in 2012.

For all of you who remember Norwegian photographer Tone Elin Solholm (Venice and Barcelona workshops), she will be having an exhibition of 20 photographs from her first book,  THE GIANTS’ LIVING ROOM, at the noted Oslo gallery, Fotografiens Hus (House of Photography) from February 9-26, 2012, which will include the poem Rebecca wrote for the book (Tone’s photograph and Rebecca’s poem below).

U.S. photographer Susan Cardona (CPW Workshop) will have an exhibition, IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, this summer in Eastport, Maine.  New York City-based British photographer, Shane Gray, will have an exhibition of his STREET PHOTOGRAPHS this spring at the Lunasas bar at 126 1st Av. (between 7/8 St.), and you can see his latest projects and the exact dates of the show on his website. One of  Minny Lee‘s photographs from her Self-Portrait series is currently featured in the group exhibition, DREAMS, at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, until January 7, 2012.

Belgium photographer Serge Maes — who some of you may remember from the Barcelona and New York workshops — currently has photographs in a joint show in Bussum, the Netherlands, until the end of December, and will have a new website up and running soon.  And one of the youngest photographers in our community, Austrian photographer MAFALDA RAKOS (Photo Project @ Caption Gallery), will have some of her photographs of her fellow teenagers in the photography festival in Braga, Portugal, “Entcontros da Imagem,” in fall 2012.

Lastly, we are pleased to announce the opening of a new collective gallery in Seattle by two of our former PCNW workshop photographers, Minh Carrico and Carina del Rosario — along with a third photographer, Su’J'n Chon.  The gallery is called  IDEA Odyssey.

Jane Paradise @ the Bedford Gallery in California

Tone Elin Solholm, from her upcoming House of Photography exhibit, "The Giants' Living Room," in Oslo in February. Rebecca's poem -- "Seven Rooms" -- will also be included in the Fotografiens Has exhibition.

 Remember when the world had seven rooms?

Ours had a back staircase and pocket doors. 

One winter, I had a room under the wingback chair only I could enter.

Next summer, I hid in the flowering plum for hours, & my mother called & called.

Flattening their wings, bats crawled under any closed door.  No one was safe.

Falling asleep, my book half open, I dreamt I was flying.

Since then, I’ve visited six continents and three oceans.

Now, the world with seven rooms lives inside of me.

Slowly I climb the back staircase.

My dead brother swings me around and around — finally lets go.

I fly through the air.

–Rebecca Norris Webb

Chris Chadbourne, installation view of the 2011 New England Photo Biennial

Sue Cardona, Lobster Fisherman, Jonesport

Shane Gray, Dining Hall Scaffolder

Minny Lee, Self-portrait, Mestre, Italy 2011

S.M. Maes, Barcelona, Spain

Mafalda Rakos

Carina A. del Rosario (right) with IDEA Odyssey gallery co-founder Minh Carrico. (The third co-founder, SuJ'n Chon, is not pictured.)

NEW PHOTO AGENCY

Sebastián Liste, from the series "On This Side of the Mountain"

SEBASTIAN LISTE – who some of you met at our UNBOUND workshop @ LOOK3 this summer —  is now a Featured Photographer at Reportage by Getty Images.  And, in case you missed it, here’s Sebastian’s two-part interview with photographer, writer, digital tech and our studio manager, TRENT DAVIS BAILEY, on Daylight Magazine earlier this year:  Link to Part I.  Link to Part II.

NEW BLOG

As a commercial photographer, how do you continue to inspire your personal photography?  For Colorado wedding photographer PRESTON UTLEY, he decided to start a blog devoted to his personal work, called THE SNAP SHOT DIARIES.  We look forward to following Preston’s new blog in 2012.

Preston Utley, "Snow Capped," from his new blog, "The Snap Shot Diaries"

Preston’s website

FUNDRAISING

What better way to start the NEW YEAR than to contribute to documentary projects??  Below are two we think you should consider: The first is Russian photographer OLGA KRAVET’s GROZNY: Nine Cities (Olga was in our Moscow Workshop in 2007), a collaborative project with two of her fellow Russian photographers, Maria Morina and Oksana Yushko.  Here is a link to the Grozny fundraising page. The second is L.A.-based photographer and documentary filmmaker SARA TERRY’s FOLK (the doc’s cinematographer, HENRY JACOBSON,is also a photographer whose work was recently featured on VISURA). Any amount you give will help support these very worthy projects.

Sara Terry, FOLK a feature-length documentary

NEW PROJECTS

David Bacher

We think it’s fitting to end FOUR CONTINENTS where it all begins — by taking a look at some new and ongoing photography projects from around the world.  First we’ll start in Europe with three talented street photographers — Paris-based DAVID BACHER, French photographer DAVID BELAY (You may remember David Belay from our recent Munich workshop and our Peru workshop), and Dutch photographer BAS LOSEKOOT (Caption Gallery workshop).   We’ve also included from Argentina, ALEJANDRO KIRCHUK  and his moving portraits of his grandparents, as well as Venezuelan-born GUILLERMO DE YAVORSKY’S tender and surreal Skype portraits of friends and family around the world, and many of these screen shots were taken in St. Barts where he now lives.  We end with Greek photographer DIMITRI MELLOS  and his photographs from the streets of New York, where he’s based, and Chinese photographer MAX WANG, who recently finished a second comprehensive project photographing and interviewing 100 people across Canada, ages 1 to 100 (Max recently did a similar project in China, as those of you may remember from the Unbound Workshop at LOOK3 this past summer).

David Bacher’s website: http://www.davidbacher.com/

David Belay

David Belay’s photos: http://maddav.jalbum.net/4continents/index.html

Alejandro Kirchuk

Alejandro’s website: http://www.alejandrokirchuk.com.ar/

Bas Losekoot, from "Sao Paulo and the Urban Millennium"

Bas’s website: http://www.baslosekoot.com/

Dimitri Mellos, 2011

Dimitri’s website: http://www.dimitrimellos.com

Yinan Max Wang, Aunjelica, 2011

Max’s website: http://www.yinanmaxwang.com/

Guillermo de Yavorsky, from the series "FarAway So Close (Skype Portraits)"

Guillermo’s photos:

http://web.me.com/deyavorsky/South_African_Football/index.html

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBECCA

–THE STREETS OF HAVANA, Sunday, Jan. 22 thru Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012.  There are only a few places left in this upcoming workshop sponsored by Norway’s Nordic Light.  For more information follow this link.

–WEEKEND WORKSHOP IN SINGAPORE, Friday evening, March 9, 2012, thru Saturday, March 11, 2012.  An intensive weekend workshop with the Webbs and Radius Books creative director and noted book designer, David Chickey. More information about this workshop will appear soon on the Magnum website and on the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website.

–WEEKEND WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY, Friday evening, March 23, thru Sat., March 25, 2012. Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?   An intensive weekend workshop with Alex and Rebecca. Check the Aperture site midJanuary for details about fees and how to apply.

–FINDING YOUR VISION WORKSHOP @ CAPTION GALLERY, BROOKLYN, NY.  Sunday May 20 thru Friday May 25, 2012.* A week-long photographing and editing workshop where each photographers begins to explore his or her own way of photographing and how to edit intuitively.  Will include exercises, light room tutorials, and a presentation by a noted book editor. Applications open January 9, 2012, and early acceptance notification will start on February 9, 2012.  Check the workshop page of the webbnorriswebb website for fees, application process and further details.

*If there is enough interest, we will explore offering a second session of the Finding Your Vision Workshop @ Caption Gallery the week before —  Sunday May 13 thru Friday May 18, 2012.

Alex Webb, "Thessaloniki, Greece, 2003," from "The Suffering of Light" in the "New Yorker," December 19, 2011

Congratulations to Alex and Aperture for the coverage of the current THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT exhibition in this week’s NEW YORKER, WALL STREET JOURNAL, as well as on THE NEW YORK TIMES LENS BLOG, SLATE, the NO RING CIRCUS blog, and an interview with NATALIA JIMENEZ on the MSNBC BLOG.  In addition, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT  is also included as one of PDN NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2011, one of AMERICAN PHOTO’s BEST PHOTO BOOKS OF 2011, one of the GUARDIAN’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS OF THE YEAR, 2011, one of PHOTO EYE’s Best Photography Books of 2011, and one of ELISABETH BIONDI’S choices for 2011 BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS on ELIZABETH AVEDON’S blog.

For those who didn’t get a chance to see the exhibition yet, consider attending Alex’s gallery talk at APERTURE on Saturday, December 17th, from 4-5 pm.–Rebecca Norris Webb

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS:

Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” @ Aperture, New York, through January 19, 2012

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, “Violet Isle: A Photographic Portrait of Cuba,” @ MFA, Boston, through Jan. 16, 2012

Alex Webb, “The Suffering of Light,” at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, through Jan. 14, 2012

Rebecca Norris Webb and other artists, “Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds,” NDMOA, Grand Forks, ND, through Jan. 15, 2012

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

January 22-29, 2012: “The Streets of Havana,” a Nordic Light Workshop, is almost full.

Additional Webb Workshops 2012 include:

Sunday May 20 to Friday May 25, 2012,  Brooklyn, New York, “Finding Your Vision Workshop”

Friday, March 9 thru Sunday, March 11, 2012, Singapore, “Finding Your Vision” weekend workshop

Friday March 23 to Sunday March 25, 2012, possible weekend workshop @ Aperture, NY

For more information, please contact Rebecca:  rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.   Ask to placed on the email blog/workshop update list for the latest workshop information.

Rebecca Norris Webb, "Havana, 2007" at MFA, Boston & NDMOA

Alex Webb, cover of his Aperture monograph, "The Suffering of Light"

UPCOMING EVENTS

––Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery; 6-8 pm

All are invited to the opening reception of Alex Webb’s 50-print exhibition of his recent Aperture monograph of 30 years of color photographs, “The Suffering of Light.”  For more information.

 ––Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery and Book Store, 4-6 pm

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb will sign copies of their books,  including “The Suffering of Light” (AW, Aperture, 2011), “Violet Isle (AW, RNW, Radius), Istanbul (AW, Aperture),  and their two out-of-print books, “Under a Grudging Sun “ (AW, Thames and Hudson, 1989) and “The Glass Between Us” (Channel, 2006). Link.

 ––Saturday, Dec. 17^th, 2011, New York, Aperture Gallery, 4-5 pm

Alex Webb will give a free public gallery talk about his current exhibition at the Aperture Gallery. Link.

RELATED LINKS/REVIEWS:

–Selection of photographs from the Aperture book,  ”The Suffering of Light,” on Slate.

Review of Alex's book in L'Express

  ONGOING EVENTS:

––VIOLET ISLE @ the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Monday, January 16, 2012

A Photographic Portrait of Cuba by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb.

This exhibition explores photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb’s poetic vision of Cuba, the Caribbean island that—because of the color of its soil—is occasionally known as the “Violet Isle.” The couple became fascinated with the paradoxes of the place some twenty years ago, and made eleven trips to photograph there between 1993 and 2008. They worked individually—Alex capturing the people he encountered on the streets, in courtyards and cafes, and Rebecca recording the interesting animals that she came across—and pooled the results of their labors at the end of the endeavor. Combined, the photographers’ efforts form a rich visual essay, a sort of duet on the lyrical vibrancy and texture of the island’s culture.

Link to the BOSTON GLOBE review of the exhibition.

––Tues., November 29th, 2011 to Jan. 15, 2012, Grand Forks, North Dakota

“Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds,” group show featuring work by Rebecca Norris Webb, Terry Evans, Walton Ford, and other artists.  For more information, please visit the museum’s website here.

It was evening all afternoon.

It was snowing

And it was going to snow.

The blackbird sat

In the cedar-limbs.

–from “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens

Rebecca Norris Webb, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, in the NDMOA show, "Winged Shadows"

 ––Dec. 1, 2011 to January 14, 2012, Toronto, Stephen Bulger Gallery; 5-9 pm

Please join us for the reception of Alex Webb’s gallery show at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, which will feature a selection of work from his recent book.  For more information.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

December 17, 2011: ONE-DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE

New York, Aperture Gallery , 10-5pm

Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?  This intensive one-day workshop will help photographers begin to understand their own distinct way of seeing the world.  It will also help photographers figure out their next step photographically  –– from deepening their own unique vision to the process of discovering and making a long-term project that they’re passionate about.  For more information, including how to enroll and pay for the workshop, please visit.

THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL. TO BE PLACED ON A WAITING LIST, PLEASE EMAIL REBECCA: rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com

––THE STREETS OF HAVANA: A Nordic Light Workshop

Sunday, January 22, to Saturday, January 29, 2012; possible second week:  Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2012

This 7-day workshop will be about street photography in Havana –– using the camera to explore the world of this one-of-a-kind Caribbean city in a direct, spontaneous way.  It is a workshop that will emphasize the development of a unique, personal way of seeing and the development of an intuitive way of editing your photographs. We will also discuss with participants over the week how to take their work to the next level. It’s a workshop open to amateurs and professionals alike.  For more information.

Rebecca Norris Webb, from "Communion" series, from her talk at the Brooklyn Public Library as part of the "Jump Rope Girls Project" in December

Alex Webb, Kampala, Uganda, 1980, from "The Suffering of Light"

––BOOK SIGNING AT PARIS PHOTO @ THE GRAND PALAIS

SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 4:30 @ APERTURE BOOTH, E26

Join us for a book signing of Alex’s new book, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT (exhibition opening @ Aperture in New York, Thursday, Dec. 8th), and our joint Cuba book, VIOLET ISLE  (exhibition currently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, until January 16th, 2012; Radius Books expects VIOLET ISLE to be sold out by the end of the year).  We will post other book signings and activities we’ll be involved in @ Paris Photo –– which this year celebrates African photography –– as we finalize our schedule.  Here is a link to more Aperture book signings at Paris Photo this year, including a signing by one of Rebecca’s favorite photographers, Rinko Kawauchi.–Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

––ALEX WEBB LECTURE IN MUNICH

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH.   For more information (only in German), please follow this link.  Alex will be speaking as part of a conference.

––REBECCA NORRIS WEBB  @ THE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Rebecca will join a group of filmmakers, writers, and other photographers involved in the Brooklyn project, “Jump Rope Girls,” a project started by journalist, SUSAN HARTMAN, for an article she did for The New York Times 23 years ago about a group of girls who were expert Double Dutch jumpers at a time when their Brooklyn neighborhood was particularly troubled.  A generation later, Hartman — with a group of documentary filmmakers and photographers — has continued to follow three of the four young women and their extended family and community, including Savannah (below), whom Rebecca has been photographing this past year, a process that’s taking her back to her photographic roots –– she started out in photography photographing children at play in New York, influenced by the street work of Helen Levitt and the portraits of Sally Mann.–Alex Webb

Rebecca Norris Webb, "Communion," Brooklyn, 2011

WEBB WORKSHOP UPDATE: TWO NEW WORKSHOPS

––ONE DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NY: Saturday, December 17, 2011
––CUBA: STREETS OF HAVANA, Nordic Light Workshop: JANUARY 2012

Alex Webb, Havana, 2009, from "Violet Isle"

––ONE-DAY WORKSHOP @ APERTURE, NYC

with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Saturday, December 17, 10-5 pm; includes public gallery talk with Alex Webb about his Aperture exhibition, THE SUFFERING OF LIGHT from 4 to 5 pm.

$225; $175 for full time photography students and Aperture members

Do you know where you’re going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you?  This intensive one-day workshop will help photographers begin to understand their own distinct way of seeing the world.  It will also help photographers figure out their next step photographically  –– from deepening their own unique vision to the process of discovering and making a long-term project that they’re passionate about.

A workshop for serious amateurs and professionals alike, this one-day workshop will begin Saturday  morning with reviews of each photographer’s work, serving as a jumping off point for a larger discussion about various photographic issues. Alex and Rebecca, a creative team who often edit projects and books together –– including their book and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, exhibition, “Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba” –– will explore with the class a series of topics, including the process of photographing spontaneously and intuitively; how to photograph in cultures other than one’s own; how to edit photographs intuitively; the emotional and psychological implications of working in color vs. black and white; the difference between images in a book and images on the wall; and how long-term projects can evolve into books and exhibitions. Participants should be prepared to ask questions, as these concerns will help shape the ultimate direction of the workshop.

This one-day workshop is for documentary photographers, street photographers, art photographers, and others who photograph the world with a camera –– not for those who dramatically alter their photographs digitally.  

WHAT PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOULD BRING: About 30 photography prints (can be inexpensive 5×7  or 8×10  work prints; we are most interested in the image not the quality of the print).  For those who are working in a series or on a long-term project, feel free to bring one or two projects.

Class limit: 20

To enroll for the workshop and pay the workshop fee (there is a discounted rate for full-time photography students, Aperture Patrons, and SNAP! members), please follow this link to the Aperture site. For more information, contact Rebecca at rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.

––THE STREETS OF HAVANA with NORDIC LIGHT

Sunday, January 22, 2012 to Saturday, January 28, 2012; possible second week, Jan. 29-Feb. 5 

Havana workshop, organized by Norway’s Nordic Light Photography Festival.  For more information, follow this link.

Rebecca Norris Webb, Havana, 2008, from "Violet Isle"

Alex Webb, "Matamoros, Mexico, 1978," from the book, "Crossings"

Please let us know if you can join us this month in DC, OSLO, or DUMBO, Brooklyn, at one of our slide talks/book signings.  You’ll find the details of all the slide talks below.

For those interested, you’ll also find information about our October (Brooklyn), November (Munich), and December (Toronto) workshops at the end of this posting.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

UPCOMING WEBB SLIDE TALKS AND BOOK SIGNINGS:

• THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6TH, WASHINGTON, D.C., 6:30 PM
• MONDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, OSLO, NORWAY, 5-8 PM
• SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23D, DUMBO, BROOKLYN, 5 PM

OCTOBER 6, 2011 | 6:30 PM

MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE

2829 16^th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20009

 

FREE ADMISSION

SEATING IS LIMITED

RSVP RECOMMENDED:

RSVP@instituteofmexicodc.org     

Rebecca Norris Webb, “The Sky Below,” from the upcoming book, “My Dakota”

AN EVENING OF PHOTOGRAPHY WITH ALEX WEBB, REBECCA NORRIS WEBB, AND JOSH LUSTIG

Host of the Evening Event: Norwegian Photographer Rune Eraker

Fritt Ord

Uranienborgveien 2, Oslo
Monday, October 10th,  from 17:00-20:00

Free and open to the public

This Oslo event will be hosted by Norwegian photographer Rune Eraker. Along with Alex and Rebecca Webb, Josh Lustig from Panos will also be speaking about the role of photo Agencies today as well as various ways to cultivate long term projects. There will be a debate and Q/A session after the talks.

For more information: Fritt Ord website

WORKSHOP UPDATE:

1. There is one place left in our most advanced workshop, THE PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOP 2011, the last week of October in Dumbo.  All former Webb Workshop photographers are invited to apply, but others will be considered as well.  For more information, follow this link of the Magnum Events page, or contact Rebecca directly at rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com.
2. We’re holding a two-day photography workshop in Munich, November 15 and 16th.  Here is the link (only in German at this time).
3. There are only three spots left in our upcoming workshop the first weekend of December at the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.  You can read more about the workshop here, or contact Natalie directly at the gallery: natalie@bulgergallery.com

Alex Webb, “Nuevo Laredo, 1996,” from the book, “Crossings,” part of the Stephen Daiter Gallery exhibition this month

Hope you can join us for one of our three September events:  Alex’s opening for “The Suffering of Light” at the Stephen Daiter Gallery on Friday evening, September 9th from 5 to 8pm; our joint gallery exhibition, which includes work from our Cuba book and Museum of Fine Arts exhibition, “Violet Isle,” at the Robert Klein Gallery on Saturday afternoon, September 17th, from 2-4pm.

Lastly, please join us for our  joint slide talk and book signing   ”Together and Apart,” including a conversation with Radius creative director and noted book designer, David Chickey, at RADIUS BOOKS in Santa Fe, Friday, Sept. 24th, from 5:30-7 pm, which will be held just before the CENTER’s panel of photography experts, including New Mexico Museum of Art curator, Katherine Ware, and Photo-Eye’s Melanie McWhorter, a talk which is located nearby.  Both the RADIUS and CENTER events are free and open to the public.

Please let us know if you can attend any of the events by posting a comment below. Looking forward to seeing some of you this month.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Rebecca Norris Webb, Havana, 2008, from VIOLET ISLE exhibitions this month at Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

THREE UPCOMING OCTOBER EVENTS:  Hope to see some of you at Alex’s slide talk and conversation in Washington, D.C., at the Mexican Cultural Center, on Thursday, Oct. 6th; our joint slide talk in Oslo on Monday, October 10th: and at our talk and book signing at PowerHouse Books in Dumbo on Sunday, October 23d, at 5pm.  We’ll have links and details by the end of the month.––Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb

Rebecca Norris Webb, from the upcoming book, "My Dakota," (Radius, May 2012) and September 23d slide talk in Santa Fe (wtih Alex Webb & David Chickey at Radius Books)

WORKSHOP UPDATE: For those working on a long-term project, there are still a few spaces left for the BOOK WEEKEND WITH RADIUS BOOKS the third weekend in September, and the PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOP the last week in October.  Former Webb workshop participants are invited to apply without submitting a formal application, but other photographers will be considered as well.  Please contact Rebecca for more information: rebeccanorriswebb@yahoo.com

Nancy Webb will be honored at the October 1st PAAM Gala

Nancy Webb, "Sunflowers"

TWO CONGRATULATIONS:  We’d like to congratulate Alex’s talented mother, NANCY WEBB, for being awarded a lifetime artist award at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.  Hope to see some of you there at the PAAM ARTrageous Celebration & Silent Auction on October 1st.  We’d also like to congratulate DIMITRI MELLOS –– whose PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOP project last October, “Its Strangest Patterns” –– was awarded Blurb’s First Runner Up in the Travel Category.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

Dimitri Mellos, Its Strangest Patterns

Alex Webb, cover of "The Suffering of Light," Aperture, 2011

Please join us on Saturday, August 27th, at the CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK, for our slide talk and book signing, “Together and Apart,” at 8pm.

You’ll also find a new audio piece about our “Violet Isle” exhibition at the MFA, Boston, at this link.

We’ll have more soon about Alex’s upcoming Aperture show later this fall in New York, as well as September gallery openings in Chicago and Boston.––Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

WEBB WORKSHOP UPDATE 

There are two spaces left for the BOOK WEEKEND WITH RADIUS BOOKS the third weekend in September in Santa Fe, which will involve both David Chickey, the prize-winning book designer and creative director of Radius Books, and Darius Himes, Radius editor and noted photo book expert. Please contact me at the below email ASAP if you’re interested in attending. Former Webb Workshop participants are invited to apply without submitting a portfolio, but other photographers will be considered as well.  For more information, please visit this link on the Magnum Events page.  This workshop is not only a great way to support your own long-term project, but also Rebecca’s upcoming “My Dakota” book as well.–Alex Webb (email: rnorriswebb@yahoo.com)

Rebecca Norris Webb, Fallen Apples, print option for "My Dakota" limited ed.

Before we head out to photograph for the summer — Alex south to Peru and Rebecca west to South Dakota — we just wanted to thank our online photographic community for all your support this past year.  And we’d like to give  a special thanks to all of you who have reserved one of the “My Dakota” limited editions, which will help Radius publish Rebecca’s book next spring.

In addition, we hope some of you can join us for the Book Weekend Workshop with Radius with Radius publisher and creative director, the acclaimed book designer David Chickey, and noted photo book expert, Radius book editor, and coauthor of the new book, Publish Your Photography Book, Darius Himes, in Santa Fe the third weekend in September this year. This intensive weekend workshop is a great way to explore what’s the next step for your long-term project as well as an additional way to support Rebecca’s “My Dakota” book.

Please stay in touch over the summer, and we hope to see some of you at Alex’s opening at the Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago on Friday, September 9th, and at our joint show at the Robert Klein Gallery in Boston on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 17th.  Looking forward to working with the photographers of our most advanced and intensive project workshop, Photo Project Workshop 2011 at Caption Gallery, the last week in October, that will culminate in a book dummy, a designed cover of the book, and a show at the Caption Gallery after the workshop.  (See below for more details; as of July 1, two places are left). —Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

“MY DAKOTA” LIMITED EDITION

Edition of 30 (first 25 @$500; last five @$900)

11×14 signed Type C print and signed, editioned book with one of Rebecca’s handwritten text pieces

As of July 1st, 22 of the limited editions have sold.  Thanks, everyone, for your generous support of Rebecca’s book. We couldn’t do it without you.  I’m about to send out the second round of emails.  If you haven’t yet heard from me, feel free to contact me directly to see the pdf of all eight print options (including the three in this blog posting). Thanks, again. — Alex  (my direct email: rnorriswebb@yahoo.com)

UPCOMING PHOTO PROJECT WORKSHOPS WITH ALEX AND REBECCA:

––Book Weekend with Radius Books (and the Webbs):  Friday, Sept. 23, to Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, Santa Fe, NM

–- The Photo Project Workshop: Sunday, Oct. 23, to Saturday, Oct. 29th, 2011, New York

All former Webb Workshop participants are invited to participate, but others will be considered as well.

Rebecca Norris Webb, Black Birds, print option for "My Dakota" limited ed.

Rebecca Norris Webb, Sheep Mountain, print option for "My Dakota" limited ed.